Chef Sam Auen and his crew behind Tacopocalypse will serve up turkey tacos and more traditional holiday fare on Thanksgiving Day for guests of Central Iowa Shelter & Services in Des Moines. / Register File Photo

Written by

Chef Sam Auen and his crew behind Tacopocalypse will serve up turkey tacos and more traditional holiday fare on Thanksgiving Day for guests of Central Iowa Shelter & Services in Des Moines.

The meal, made up of food collected and donated by the recently opened East Village restaurant, will be served by volunteers in conjunction with the Young Professionals Connection.

“It’s in the true Thanksgiving experience to provide for people who can’t provide for themselves,” Auen said.

Auen is accepting donations of anything — bags of potatoes, sweet potatoes, turkeys and canned green beans — at Tacopocalypse’s storefront at 621 Des Moines St. in the East Village as he plots what should be a unique Thanksgiving meal.

“That’s kind of what my team and I worked out: We would see what we get donated and we would work out the menu around that,” he said.

Auen hopes to serve his standard street-food style tacos along with turkey versions as well as Tacopocalypse’s take on the classics, including cranberries, mashed potatoes, stuffing — “the whole nine yards.”

Just one request was made by the staff, Auen said: Please don’t make spaghetti.

“Ninety percent of the church groups (that volunteer at the shelter) serve spaghetti, and everyone is sick with it,” he said.